"For by so much more frequently as Jesus is seen in artistic representation,
By so much more readily are people lifted up to His memory… And to a longing after Him."
-The Second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea

Thursday, March 15, 2012

The RedBull Jesus

And so it begins…

So let’s see…  A bored Jesus steps out of the boat and begins walking on water much to the amazement of one of his disciples.  Disciple B, however, immediately jumps to the conclusion that Jesus simply drank a RedBull.  Jesus tells him that is not the case, at which point the reprimanded disciple likewise becomes confounded and asked the Lord if He is working “another” miracle.  Jesus corrects the second theory as well and explains that you just need to know where the stepping stones are.  Then, just for good measure, before the end of the commercial Jesus almost slips off of one of said stepping stones and takes His own name in vain.

This RedBull commercial aired earlier this week in South Africa sparking the outrage of the South African community.  Receiving complaints from both Muslims and Christians RedBull decided to “suspend” the add campaign.  Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Archbishop of Durban, South Africa, went so far as to release a statement concerning the ad on the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s web page.  Cardinal Napier states that “While the RedBull adverts are characterised by their cleverness, we believe that RedBull South Africa have overstepped a mark.”  The Cardinal then, in his own clever way, suggests

“Much of RedBulls marketing is targeted to small shop owners, youth and young adults. In the spirit of observing Lent, we suggest that Catholic store owners and our young people fast from displaying and consuming RedBull until Easter. We suggest that the money you would have spent on RedBull be donated to charitable works. In this way, RedBullSA will understand that the idea that there is ‘no-such-thing-as-bad-publicity’ is dangerous territory when it comes to mocking religious symbols.”

So here is the question… Is Jesus being mocked in the above advert?  For the most part it seems RedBull is simply recycling a very old religious joke.  I’m pretty sure I remember my priest telling the very same joke during a homily at mass back when I was in elementary school, much to the amusement of the congregation.  Claiming the commercial mocks Jesus takes the critique a bit far especially since our friend “Disciple B” professes that Jesus is, in fact, a miracle worker.  Humor is what the commercial was going for, not blasphemy, and you can be your own judge on how well it succeeded.

Now with that said, we do have a second question to deal with.  Is Jesus being exploited by the advertisement?  On this point, I am going to side with the good Cardinal who points out “People are more than consumers and faith-based symbols are more than marketing opportunities.”  This in not the first time, and we can be confident not the last time Jesus is being used to sell something.  In the grand scheme of things, using Jesus to sell RedBull is a pretty minor transgression as opposed to say, using Jesus to sell a war; nevertheless, it is still “using” Jesus.  And people have every right to be offended by an ad campaign that reduces someone they hold to be sacred down to a celebrity spokes person.

RedBull is just the latest in a long line of companies, organizations and individuals who have tried to “use” Jesus for their own, shall we say “less than noble,” reasons. We could take this opportunity to shake our heads in disgust at the naughty ubercaffeinated beverage company, or we could take this as an opportunity to examine our own lives.  Have we ever “used” Jesus for our own selfish reasons? Have we ever “used” Jesus as a convenient excuse not to think through challenging issues in our own life?  Have we ever “used” Jesus as a tool of oppression rather than let Him be an instrument of liberation?  As Christians our calling is not to use Jesus, but rather to let Him use us.  When we are able to do just that, the miracles Jesus can work will be far greater than anyone walking on water, with or sans stepping stones.

1 comment:

  1. A special shout out goes to any heathens or pagans on the side of the RedBull Jesus.

    ReplyDelete